Weaver Capital Management LLC Has $427,000 Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 712 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $870,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of MSCI by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,334 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,497,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,845,000. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in MSCI by 6.1% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 16,021 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,339,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 48.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 415 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $584.69 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.59, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $606.94 and its 200 day moving average is $583.91.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.85 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group cut their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.